Recording apparatus



1941- N. K. ENGST 2,229,696

RECORDING APPARATUS Filed July 10, 193'? 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 L N i -.L. m n"" Jan. 28, 1941. N ENGST 2,229,696

RECORDING APPARATUS Filed July .10, 1937 2 Sheets- Sheet 2 Patented Jan. 28, 1941 2,229,696 I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RECORDING APPARATUS Norbert K. Engst, La Grange, IlL, assignor to Western Electric Company, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application July 10, 1937, Serial No. 152,883

2 Claims. (01. 2a4 s6.5)

This invention relates to recording apparatus Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of a recordand more particularly to apparatus for recording ing mechanism built in accordance with the prewith precision the time of the occurrence of cerferred embodiment of the invention, parts being tain events. broken away to more clearly illustrate the struc- In making time studies in connection with intural features of the apparatus;

dustrial research, it sometimes is desirable to Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the strucmeasure with accuracy the time elapsing between ture shown in Fig. 1; the start and finish of assembly operations. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary transverse sectional Heretofore, measurements of this type were made view taken along the line 33 of Fig. 2 in the m by-mechanisms which recorded the time by direction of the arrows; punching holes in a tape fed at a constant rate Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional of speed and bearing indicia representing time. view, taken along the line 44 of Fig. 1 in the This type of a record required interpolation bedirection of the arrows; fore the information could be used in compiling Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view data, and it therefore became desirable to protaken along the line 55 of Fig. 1 in the direc- 15 duce this data in a more conveniently read form. tionof the arrows; and

It is an object of the present invention to pro- Fig. 6 is a circuit schematic of an electrical convide a simple mechanism for recording accuratetrol system for controlling the operation of the ly the time of occurrence of certain events. mechanism disclosed in Figs. 1 to 5, inclusive. 10 One embodiment of the present invention con- Referring now to the drawings, wherein like templates the provision of mechanism for proreference characters designate the same parts ducing automatically a printed record of the time throughout the several views, the numeral! l inof occurrence of events, wherein a synchronous dicates a synchronous motor, which, when conmotor drives a counter having a plurality of decinected to a suitable source of current supply, will mal orders of counter wheels which carry raised drive a shaft l2 at 1800 revolutions per minute. type on the periphery thereof representing min- The shaft l2 carries at its left end, (Fig. 2) a utes and decimal fractions of a minute. The gear 13, meshing with gear M, the respective drive for the counter wheels is designed so that sizes of the two gears being such that the gear I4 the wheels will be held stationary for a short will be driven by the gear l3 at 1,000 revolutions time each time a new number is presented at a per minute. The gear i4 is mounted upon a shaft printing position. At the printing position there I5, suitably journaled in bearings l6 and. I! are provided hammers normally latched in an mounted upon a pair of support plates l8 and inoperative position, but which may be tripped l9, respectively. electrically at the starting or stopping of any se- A worm-type Cam 25 is formed 011 a Sleeve quence of events, the time of which is to be fixed to the shaft I5 between the support plates measured, and immediately upon release of the i8 and I9, and a worm gear 26 is formed on a hammers they will strike a strip of paper fed step sleeve 28 Secured to the shaft l5 adjacent its by step for each recording operation to drive it left end (Figs. 2 and 3). The worm-type cam into engagement with an inked ribbon interposed 25 has the left end (Fi 3) of its thread filled -10 between the paper and the type on the counter with a cam 3| for camming a member traveling wheels. Immediately upon the release of the in the thread away from the worm when it aphammers, to make a record, resetting instruproaches the end thereof. The shaft l5 carries at mentalities are brought into play which serve to its extreme left end a cap 29 having fixed therereset the hammers to their inoperative position, to a tapered pin 30, the function of which will be :5 from which they may again be released electridescribed hereinafter. cally. An auxiliary platen is located adjacent Meshing with the worm gear 25 is a gear 35 the number wheels so that identifying indicia mounted upon a shaft 36 journaled in extending may be selectively recorded adjacent the number portions 31 and 38 of a U-shaped bracket 39 which represents the time of occurrence of an fixed to the support plate IS. The worm gear 26 no event for purposes which will become apparent has a portion 32 of its thread formed at right as the detailed specification progresses. angles to the axis of rotation of the shaft l5 so A better understanding of the invention may that the gear 35 will stand stationary at a prebe had by reference to the following detailed dedetermined time in each one-tenth revolution. scription, when considered in conjunction with The shaft 36 also carries a gear 40 for meshing 53 the accompanying drawings, wherein with and driving a gear 4| fixed to the first or 55 lowest denominational order counter wheel 42. This counter wheel 42 has associated therewith second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth or highest denominational order counter wheels 43, 44, 45, 46 and 41, respectively. The counter wheels 42 to 41, inclusive, are mounted upon and freely rotatable about a shaft 48 mounted in a supporting bracket 48, which is in turn positioned upon the support plate I9. The counter wheels 42 to 41, inclusive, are equipped with a suitable carryover mechanism, not shown, which may be any of the well-known mechanical carryover mechanisms adapted to impart one-tenth of a revolution to a higher order counter wheel when its next lower order counter wheel passes from its 9th to its zero position. The periphery of each of the counter wheels is decagonal in shape, each of the fiat portions thereof having raised type formed thereon representing one of the digits from one to nine or zero in numerical sequence.

The counter wheels are thus geared together in aten to one relationship, and if it be assumed that the shaft- I5 is driven at 1,000 revolutions per minute, then the counter wheel 42 will be advanced step by step at the rate of 100 revolutions per minute, presenting the numbers one to 9 and zero at a printing station at the rate of 1,000 numbers a minute, and the counter wheel 43 will be driven through ten revolutions in each minute, the wheel 44 will be driven through one revolution per minute, the wheel 45 will be driven through one-tenth of a revolution per minute, the wheel 46 will be driven through one-hundredth of a revolution per minute, and the wheel 41 will be driven through one-thousandth of a revolution per minute. In this manner, the numbers presented at a predetermined radial point with respect to the counter wheels will represent time in minutes and decimal fractions of minutes, the type on the lowest order wheel 42 representing thousandths of a minute.

Suspended directly above the counter wheels and carried by a pair of supports 56--56, is an inked ribbon which may be fed in any suitable manner to present newly inked surfaces to the counter wheels as necessary. This inked ribbon extends above the counter wheels and a platen 51 positioned to the left of the counter wheels (Fig. 1), the purpose of which will become apparent as the description progresses. A strip of paper 58 is interposed between the inked ribbon 55 and the counter wheels 42 to 41 -and platen 51. This strip of paper is fed from a supply roll 59 rotatably mounted on a bracket 60 and passes between an idler roller 6| and a feed roller 62, adapted to be driven by a pawl 63 and a ratchet 64. The pawl 63 is pivotally mounted upon an upwardly extending arm 65, being normally urged into engagement with the ratchet 64 by a spring 66 pinned to the pawl 63 and arm 65. A plate 61 serves tosupport the' paper 58 between the portion thereof engaged by the rollers 6| and 62 and the counter wheels and platen 51. A bracket 68, having a serrated edge 69, is mounted upon the support plate I 9 and bent to the left (Fig. 2) and then upwardly to support the extending end of the paper and to provide a surface against which the paper may be torn when it is desired to sever a portion thereof from the supply.

The arm 65, which supports the pawl 63, is formed integrally with a bar I5 fixed to a pair of arms 16 and TI, pivotally mounted on a rod 18. The rod 18 is mounted in a pair of side members I9 and 80, which are in turn supported upon the support plate I8 and a spacing-plate 8| fixed to the support plates I8 and I9. Also pivoted upon the rod 18 are a number of printing hammers 85, there being one hammer for each counter wheel and each hammer being equipped with a ribbon engaging portion 86 for striking the inked ribbon 55 upon the release of the hammers. Each of the hammers 85 carries a projection 81, which is normally engaged by a relatively strong fiat spring 88 to normally urge the hammers downwardly into engagement with the inked ribbon 55. However, the hammers, when they are in their lowermost position. as indicated by the dot and dash lines in Fig. 5, will not be held against the ribbon by the springs 88 due to the fact that a series of pins 89 have been mounted in the bar 15 adjacent to each of the hammers and after a hammer has been snapped downwardly by its spring 88, the spring will strike against its associated pin 88 and a series of relatively light springs 90 will hold the ham mer out of engagement with the inked ribbon 55. In this manner, any hammer which has been snapped down by the spring 88 will strike the inked ribbon 55 and immediately upon its rebound will be held in a position just above the ribbon 55 and will not hold the ribbon against the paper 58, whereby the hammers will be snapped into engagement with the inked ribbon and will immediately rebound from the ribbon and will be held up by the spring 90. The springs 80 are carried by the bar I5.

Mounted at the right side (Fig. 1) of the rod 18 is a hinged plate 98 (Fig. 2) having a portion 99 thereof bent over to extend under the forward edge of the bar 15. This hinged plate 98 has hinged thereto at I00 an actuating member IOI, which extends through a slot I02 in a pivoted lever I03 (Figs. 2 and 3) and which carries a projection I04 adapted to be moved into the worm-type cam 25 upon actuation of the lever I03. mally held in the position shown in Fig. 2 by a spring 0. The lever I03 is pivoted at I05 to the bearing I1 and has a pair of notches I06 and I0! formed in the right end thereof (Fig. 3) for receiving a V-shaped member I08 mounted upon a leaf spring I09 secured to the support plate I8 whereby the lever I03 will be held in either of two adjusted positions, one of which is shown in dot and dash lines and the other of which is shown in solid lines (Fig. 3). The left end of the lever I03, (Figs. 2 and 3) extends into the path of a hinged lever II6, which is hinged at II! to a hinge plate H8. The lower end of the hinged lever II6 carries a projection II! which may be moved into the path of the tapered pin 30 by the armature I20 of an electromagnet 'I2I. The projection H9 of the hinged lever H6 is tapered as shown in Fig. 3 to cooperate with the tapered pin 30 and the lever II6 is'normaliy pulled toward the left (Fig. 2) about its pivot II! by a coil spring I23. The lever H6 is also normally urged to. the right (Fig. 1) by a coil spring I 24, suitable brackets I25 and I26 being provided for supporting the springs I23 and I24, respectively. The spring I 24 normally tends to hold the upper end of the hinge plate II8 against the side member 80. However, when the projection H9 is moved into the path of the tapered pin 30 by energizing the electrcmagnet Hi, the hinge plate II8 will be rocked in a clockwisedirection by pin 30 to move its upper end away from the plate 80. A bracket I28 is mounted upon the plate 80 to prevent displacement of the The actuating member IN is norhinge plate II8 toward the rear of the machine (upward in Fig. 4) so that the hinge plate IIO will cooperate with a cam surface I29 formed on a plate I30 which is connected to a latching member I 3|. The latching member I3I has upwardly turned ends I32 and I33 by means of which it is pivoted eccentrically upon a rod I34 extending between the side members 19 and 80. The latching member I3I normally tends to rock under the force of gravity in a counter-clockwise direction about the rod I34 and into the path of the printing hammers 85 which have cam surfaces I35 on their left ends (Figs. 2 and 5). A bent-over portion I36 of the latching member I3I normally engages the front edge (Fig. 1) of the side member 80 to hold the latching member I3I in position to be cammed to the left (Figs. 2 and 5) by the printing hammers 85 as they are moved upwardly. The pin 30 is so positioned on the cap 29 that the tripping of the latching member I3I will take place at the instant that the portion 32 of worm gear 26 is in engagement with the gear 35, whereby the type on the counter wheels being stationary will make a clear impression on the paper.

Pivotally mounted on the rod I34 are the armatures I4I, I42, and I43 of three electromagnets I44, I and I46, respectively, mounted upon a plate I41 extending across the top of the side members 19 and 80. The armatures HI, I 42 and I43 are pivoted eccentrically on the rod I34 ,and the weight thereof tends normally to move the upper end of them away from their associated electromagnets to carry latching members I50, I5I and I52, respectively, under the extending ends of printing hammers I53, I54 and I having raised type formed on the lower faces thereof, which, upon the release of the respective hammers, will strike the inked ribbon 55 and cause the letters C, B or A to be printed on the paper 58 in alignment with the numbers to be printed thereon through the coaction of the printing hammers 85 and the counter wheels 42 to 41. Brackets I56 are secured to the plate I41 for preventing the armatures I4I, I42 and I43 from rocking counter-clockwise (Fig. 2) beyond a predetermined position where they can be cammed by the edges of their associated hammers I53, I54 and I55.

The circuit for controlling the operation of the recorder, the mechanical features of which have been described in detail hereinbefore, will be described in connection with the operation of the apparatus. The apparatus may be used for the timing of the various mechanical operations by providing a series of switches I6I, I62 and I 63 which have been shown in Fig. 6 as keys. These switches may be controlled manually or may be controlled by a fixture, not shown, which holds an article being assembled in such a manner that when the fixture is placed in front of an operator, a switch will be operated. The operation of any one of the switches I6I, I62, or I63 will energize their associated electromagnets I44, I45 or I46 by completing the circuit from ground at I through the winding of the electromagnet associated with the switch to grounded battery I66, thereby rocking the armature of the operated electromagnet about the rod I34 to release the printing hammer I53, I54 or I55 from its associated latch I50, I5I or- I52, respectively. When one of the latches I50, I5I or I52 releases its associated printing hammer I53, I54 or I55, the spring 88 associated therewith will snap the hammer down into engagement with the inked ribbon 55 to cause the letter C, B or A to be printed on the strip of paper 58.

Simultaneously with the closing of the circuit through the left-hand pair of contacts of the operated switch I6I, I62 or I63, the right-hand contacts of the switch will close a circuit from ground at I65 through a winding I61 of a double wound relay I68 and through a 1,000 ohm resistance I10 to grounded battery at I59. A relay I1I, having one side of its winding connected to ground at I12, and having 1,000 ohms resistance, has the other side of its winding connected through the 1,000 ohm resistance I10 to grounded battery I69 and is therefore normally held energized. The relay I1I has ground at I13 connected to its normally made make contact and ground at I15 connected to its normally open break contact and therefore when double wound relay I60 has its winding I 61 energized by the closing of one of switches I6I, I62 or I63, the ground at I13 will be momentarily connected through the make contacts of the relays I68 and HI to the winding of electromagnet I2I. The electromagnet I2I is constructed to release slowly enough to hold the hinged lever H6 in the path of the pin 30 long enough to insure that the tripping of the latch member I3I and the initiation of the resetting operation of the printing hammers 85 will take place, each time the electromagnet operates. As soon as the double wound relay I68 is completely energized, the winding of relay I1I will be shunted and the relay I1I will release to open the circuit through its normally closed make contact and .to close its normally open break contact. When the break contact of relay I1I closes, it will connect ground at I15 through a winding I16 of the relay I 68 to grounded battery I69. A 1,000 ohm resistance I8I is connected across the winding I16 of the relay I68, which winding has a resistance of 1,300 ohms, and consequently, when the operated switch I6I, I62 or I63 is opened, due, for example, to the removal of the fixture from the position previously occuplied in front of the operator, the ground path for holding the winding I61 of double wound relay I68 energized will be broken and the winding of relay I1I will no longer be shunted. However, relay I68 will not release immediately since its winding I16 is still energized over the path through the break contact of relay I1I to ground at I15, but will stay energized until relay I1I is energized over the circuit from grounded battery at I69 through the 1,000 ohm resistance I10 and winding of the relay I1I to ground at I 12, thereby transmitting another pulse to the electromagnet I2I and breaking the ground connection at I15 from the winding I16 of relay I68. In this manner, a pulse of short duration will be trans- .mitted to the electromagnet I2I and the control circuit will be restored to the condition shown.

Each time the electromagnet I2I is operated, the following cycle of operations will automatically take place:

When the electromagnet I2I is energized, it will attract its armature I20 thereby torock the hinged lever II6 about the hinge plate H8 in a counter clockwise direction (Fig. 2) to move the knife edged projection II9 into the path of the tapered pin 30, whereupon, as the pin is moved through its circular path due to the rotation of the shaft I5, the hinged'lever H6 and its associated hinge plate II8 will be rocked in a clockwise direction (Fig. 1) about the pivot thereby to move the upper portion of the plate II8 to the right (Fig. 4) The upper end of the hinge plate H8 in moving to the right (Figs. 1 and 4) will cam the plate I30 away from the bracket I28, thereby to move the latching member I3I out from under the extending ends of the printing hammers 85. Upon the release of the printing hammers 85, they will be snapped downwardly by their associated springs 88 to strike the inked ribbon and drive it and the paper 58 into engagement with the type on the counter Wheels 42 to 41, thereby to print the number composed of those digits on the type wheels which are in their uppermost position. As the hinged lever II6 rocks in a clockwise direction, it engages the left end (Fig. 3) of the pivoted lever I03 to rock it about its pivot I05 to the position shown in dot and dash lines (Fig. 3) carrying with the lever I03 the actuating member IM and moving the projection I04 into the thread of the worm type cam 25. When the pivoted lever I03 is thus rocked to its dot and dash position, it will be held in that position by the vshaped member I 08 and the lower end (Fig. 2) of the actuating member IOI will be driven to the left (Figs. 2 and 3) to rock hinge plate 98 about the rod I8 thereby to cause the portion 99 of the hinge plate 98 to raise the left edge of the bar I5 and move all of the hammers upwardly to the point where their cam surfaces I35 will engage the latching plate I3I to move it to the left (Fig. 2) until the hammers have moved upwardly a suflicient distance for the latching member I3I to drop under the forward edges'of the hammers. As soon as the hammers are all latched in their upper position, as shown in Figs. 2 and 5, where the springs 88 will be under tension tending to snap the hammers downwardly, the projection I04 will engage the camming member 3| and will be moved to the left (Fig. 1) (upwardly in Fig. 3) to cam the pivoted lever I 03 out of its dotted line position, where it has been held by the V-shaped member I08, into its full line position (Fig. 3), whereupon the actuating member IOI will be returned to its normal position, as shown in Fig. 2, by the spring H0. Thus the printing mechanism will be restored to its normal position and ready to receive a pulse for initiating a printing and resetting cycle.

The machine operating in the manner just described will record with a high degree of accuracy the time of the occurrence of any desired event upon simply closing a pair of contacts and indicia identifying the type of event which has occurred will be printed by selected ones of the hammers I53, I54 and I55 and the entire device will be automatically reset in a very short interval of time.

While in the present embodiment of the invention a particular type of mechanism has been disclosed, it will be obvious that many modifications and adaptations of the invention could be made without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a recorder, a shaft driven at a'predetermined rate of speed, a counter mechanism driven by said shaft and having type associated therewith, a series of printing hammers, means for normally holding said printing hammers away from said type, means for normally urging the printing hammers into engagement with said type, means for releasing said printing hammers, and means controlled by said releasing means for resetting the hammers to their normal position.

2. In a recorder, a shaft driven at a predetermined rate of speed, a counter mechanism driven by said shaft and having type associated therewith, a series of printing hammers, means for normally holding said printing hammers away a pivoted and rockable lever interconnecting said common member and said cam device.

NORBERT K. ENGST. 

